Picking Up the Pieces of the NBA Lockout

I realize that there is still bitterness out there amongst NBA fans.

There
should be. If negotiations had started between the owners and the
NBAPA a month after the season ended instead of a few weeks until games
were supposed to start then people might feel different. Missing
Games was inexcusable. But then a deal was struck. And the owners and
the players locked hands (interlacing fingers) and sang Ozzy
Osbourne’s “Mama I’m Coming Home”. But here we are now, and some of us
have a decision to make….

Do we let them back into our hearts … I mean, do we watch their games on television?

Here
are the 2 reasons that I will wake up early on Christmas morning and
sprint (briskly walk) right past the Christmas tree and to the drawing
room to watch NBA Basketball. I know that most people insist on
keeping their T.Vs in their living rooms or game rooms but I maintain
that the drawing room is the most aesthetically pleasing.

1. Among
the many life lessons that I have learned from my father the one that
is going to be referenced in this blog post is the ability to shoot a
basketball. Let’s be clear here, I am not a good basketball player. I
can’t dribble, rebound, pass, sweat or recognize the difference between
shirts and skins. However, left unguarded inside an empty gym I can
routinely sink 7 footers (where you at Chuck Hayes). I owe this
valuable skill set and my love for basketball to dad.

Since
my father grew up in Odessa Texas, where football is king, I am led to
believe 2 things about him. The first is that he looked and acted
exactly like Tim Riggins from Friday Night Lights since the original
book was written
about the small town in west Texas. Riggins exemplified everything
that is cool about cool and that is who I have chosen to represent my
dad as a kid in my head. The second is that he was a bit of an
outsider. I would think playing basketball in a football town is the
equivalent of a West Virginian refusing to kiss their cousin.

It was with this
in mind that I decided that I too would be a basketball man. And in
the year of 1993, when the NBA’s Rockets of Houston started their
season winning their first 15 games and later their first NBA
championship, I had my team. The Rockets would go on to win a second
Championship in the 94-95 season bringing home Houston’s own Clyde “the
glide” Drexler to assist midway through the year.
It was a glorious time and one could not help but think that this
organization would never falter. Needless to say (and yet here I go)
it’s been about 17 years since they have done anything of significance.

However, with the promise of an NBA season on the horizon there
is a feeling of hope in the air. Not really for the Rockets, but I’m
sure there a few teams that have hope. So yes, I will watch again.

2. I just like it. And let’s be honest. What else am I going to do?
Learn a new language? Get in shape? Travel? Be a better husband? I
could go on listing ships that have sailed but I think my point is
made. I’m going to watch Basketball this year because it’s there.